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Books > History > European history > 1750 to 1900
The Peninsular War continues to be of great interest to students of
military history, but the various siege operations have tended to
be overlooked. However as Frederick Myatt demonstrates in British
Sieges of the Peninsular War, they are of no less interest than the
battles in the open fields, particularly in Spain where the
circumstances were so unusual. The British Army under Wellington
was hopelessly outnumbered by the French and could only keep the
field at all by virtue of the superior supply system which enabled
them to remain concentrated, whereas the French, who lived off the
country, were compelled to disperse widely in order to survive.
They were nevertheless capable of rapid concentration for a
particular object, so that any siege operation conducted by the
British inevitably ran the risk of being overwhelmed by sheer
weight of numbers of the relieving force. As a result, Wellington's
main preoccupation was not how long it would take to bring a siege
to a successful conclusion by normal means but rather what chance
he had of snatching success before the French overcame their supply
problems and arrived in front of him.
The time for autobiographies has arrived. Interest in authentic
life stories seems greater than ever, even greater than well
written works of fiction, because readers begin to recognise that
nothing is more fantastic than the complicated reality through
which we are forced to make our way. Accounts of everyday life have
long since become a source of historic insight, and even historians
are beginning to admit that concrete vignettes of an
autobiographer's life are often better able to portray what the
past was really like. All of this holds true for the memoirs of
Jakob Ludwig Heller, who lived in the Austro-Hungarian Empire
during the 19th and 20th centuries. The records that he left behind
reveal that nostalgic individuals were not far wrong in viewing the
Empire, and its era as the quintessence of an intact world. Of
course, things were not as peaceful and happy for everyone in the
Danube monarchy, but compared with today's world, Jakob Ludwig
Heller's milieu was a true idyll, where marriages endured, family
ties were strong, hard work was rewarded, and people rejoiced over
simple social gatherings.;Upbringing was strict, but caring, the
children were well behaved, and earning a living was fun. Long live
progress! The feeling that what he describes is lost forever is
magnified further by the fact that he grew up in a Jewish, Central
European milieu, where Jews perhaps did not live without tensions
among neighbours of other faiths, but did live without being
persecuted, robbed, and murdered. Not only Jewish readers will
regret the loss of that normal way of life. Near the end of his
memoirs, in retrospect the diarist complains about the inexplicable
intrusions of lax morals, the disappearance of fixed norms, and the
lack of the earlier, ever-present feeling of security and
continuity. What would he say today? But what makes the reading of
this simple story so rewarding, apart from the historic
information, is the intelligent, humorous, warm-hearted man who is
encountered on every page. His comments about the First World War
are especially touching. Despite his extensive life experience,
they betray his naive belief in Germany and Austria, in the
government and the army.;He is convinced that the Central Powers
fight for a just cause at a time when Karl Kraus is writing "The
Last Days of Mankind". But in those days, the great satirist was
still quite alone with his opinion. Most of the Jews, even most of
the people, probably felt as did Jakob Ludwig Heller. And the
waning of those certainties is the greatest tragedy of all, a sign
of the insurmountable distance between our world and that of the
past.
The lives and careers of Sir Charles Stewart and his brother Lord
Castlereagh take in a grand stage, from Britain and Ireland to the
kingdoms and empires of western and central Europe. Throughout his
life Stewart played a key role in shaping Europe: his is a Regency
drama beyond anything imagined by Jane Austen: warfare, diplomacy,
affairs, royal scandal, a romantic and brilliant marriage, and a
brother's suicide. Stewart was at the heart of some of history's
greatest events which took him from the bloodiest actions of the
Napoleonic Wars to the palaces of Europe's ruling dynasties. For an
all too brief period, Stewart blazed across the battlefields and
chancelleries of Europe, enjoying a meteoric rise to the highest
positions and influence, in a career indelibly linked to his
brother's and one which is virtually unique. Stewart even found
time to enjoy his share of scandal, from affairs and parties in
Vienna to running a spy network which aimed to charge a Princess of
Wales with adultery. Reider Payne's book is international in its
scope and ambitions: with Stewart's military and diplomatic theatre
of operations including Portugal, Spain, Prussia, Saxony, France,
Austria and the Austrian territories in Italy. Stewart sat at the
heart of the intrigues and social circles of Regency England, and
his life story offers an unrivalled viewpoint into the competing
claims and demands of Europe's courts.
The Mediterranean was one of Napoleon's greatest spheres of
influence. With territory in Spain, Italy and, of course, France,
Napoleon's regime dominated the Great Sea for much of the early
nineteenth century. The 'Napoleonic Mediterranean' was composed of
almost the entirety of the western, European lands bordering its
northern shores, however tenuously many of those shores were held.
The disastrous attempt to conquer Egypt in 1798-99, and the rapid
loss of Malta to the British, sealed its eastward and southern
limits. None of Napoleon's Mediterranean possessions were easily
held; they were volatile societies which showed determined
resistance to the new state forged by the French Revolution. In
this book, acclaimed historian and biographer of Napoleon, Michael
Broers looks at the similarities and differences between Napoleon's
Mediterranean imperial possessions. He considers the process of
political, military and legal administration as well as the
challenges faced by Napoleon's Prefects in overcoming hostility in
the local population. With chapters covering a range of imperial
territories, this book is a unique and valuable addition to the
historical literature on Napoleonic Europe and the process and
practice of imperialism.
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